The German Aces Speak

The German Aces Speak

Author: Colin D. Heaton

Publisher: Zenith Press

Published: 2011-11-15

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 1610597486

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DIVDIVFor the first time, four German WWII pilots share their side of the story./divDIV/divDIVFew perspectives epitomize the sheer drama and sacrifice of combat more perfectly than those of the fighter pilots of World War II. As romanticized as any soldier in history, the WWII fighter pilot was viewed as larger than life: a dashing soul waging war amongst the clouds. In the sixty-five-plus years since the Allied victory, stories of these pilots’ heroics have never been in short supply. But what about their adversaries—the highly skilled German aviators who pushed the Allies to the very brink of defeat?/divDIV/divDIVOf all of the Luftwaffe’s fighter aces, the stories of Walter Krupinski, Adolf Galland, Eduard Neumann, and Wolfgang Falck shine particularly bright. In The German Aces Speak, for the first time in any book, these four prominent and influential Luftwaffe fighter pilots reminisce candidly about their service in World War II. Personally interviewed by author and military historian Colin Heaton, they bring the past to life as they tell their stories about the war, their battles, their lives, and, perhaps most importantly, how they felt about serving under the Nazi leadership of Hermann Göring and Adolf Hitler. From thrilling air battles to conflicts on the ground with their own commanders, the aces’ memories disclose a side of World War II that has gone largely unseen by the American public: the experience of the German pilot./div/div


The German Aces Speak II

The German Aces Speak II

Author: Colin D. Heaton

Publisher: Zenith Press

Published: 2014-03-15

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 0760345902

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DIVIn The German Aces Speak II, Colin Heaton and Anne-Marie Lewis profile the WWII air war over Europe through the eyes of Johannes Steinhoff, Erich Alfred Hartmann, Guther Rall, and Dieter Hrabak—four of the Luftwaffe’s’s most interesting and significant pilots. /div


The Me 262 Stormbird

The Me 262 Stormbird

Author: Colin Heaton

Publisher: Zenith Press

Published: 2012-05-15

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1610584341

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The Me 262 was the first of its kind, the first jet-powered aircraft. Although conceived before the war, with the initial plans being drawn in April 1939, the Stormbird was beset with technological (particularly the revolutionary engines) and political difficulties, resulting in it not entering combat until August 1944, with claims of nineteen downed Allied aircraft. The performance of the Me 262 so far exceeded that of Allied aircraft that on 1 Sepember 1944, USAAF General Carl Spaatz remarked that if greater numbers of German jets appeared, they could inflict losses heavy enough to force cancellation of the Allied daylight bombing offensive. The story of how the Stormbird came to be is fascinating history, and it comes to life in the hands of noted historian Colin Heaton. Told largely in the words of the German aces who flew it, The Me 262 Stormbird provides the complete history of this remarkable airplane from the drawing boards to combat in the skies over the Third Reich. Features two forewords, one by Jorg Czypionka, Me 262 night fighter pilot, and another by historian and author Barrett Tillman.


Above the Reich

Above the Reich

Author: Colin Heaton

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2021-06-08

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 0593183908

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Sensational eyewitness accounts from the most heroic and legendary American aviators of World War II, never before published as a book They are voices lost to time. Beginning in the late 1970s, five veteran airmen sat for private interviews. Decades after the guns fell silent, they recounted in vivid detail the most dangerous missions that made the difference in the war. Ed Haydon dueled with the deadliest of German aces—and forced him to the ground. Robert Johnson racked up twenty-seven kills in his P-47 Thunderbolt, but nearly lost his life when his plane was shot to ribbons and his guns jammed. Cigar-chomping Curtis LeMay was the Air Corps general who devised the bomber tactics that pummeled Germany's war machine. Robin Olds was a West Point football hero who became one of the most dogged, aggressive fighter pilots in the European theater, relentlessly pursuing Germans in his P-38 Lightning. And Jimmy Doolittle became the most celebrated American airman of the war—maybe even of all time—after he led the audacious raid to bomb Tokyo. Today these heroes are long gone, but now, in this incredible volume, they tell their stories in their own words.


Fighter Pilot

Fighter Pilot

Author: Christina Olds

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2010-04-13

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 142992909X

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Fighter Pilot is the memoir of legendary ace American fighter pilot and general officer in the U.S. Air Force, Robin Olds. Robin Olds was a larger-than-life hero with a towering personality. A graduate of West Point and an inductee in the National College Football Hall of Fame for his All-American performance for Army, Olds was one of the toughest college football players at the time. In WWII, Olds quickly became a top fighter pilot and squadron commander by the age of 22—and an ace with 12 aerial victories. But it was in Vietnam where the man became a legend. He arrived in 1966 to find a dejected group of pilots and motivated them by placing himself on the flight schedule under officers junior to himself, then challenging them to train him properly because he would soon be leading them. Proving he wasn't a WWII retread, he led the wing with aggressiveness, scoring another four confirmed kills, becoming a rare triple ace. Olds, who retired a brigadier general and died in 2007, was a unique individual whose personal story presents one of the most eagerly anticipated military books in recent memory. Please note: This ebook edition does not include the photo insert from the print edition.


The First and the Last

The First and the Last

Author: Adolf Galland

Publisher:

Published: 2018-10-10

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 9781728666150

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Adolf "Dolfo" Joseph Ferdinand Galland was a German Luftwaffe General and one of the greatest flying aces of World War II. He flew 705 combat missions, and fought on the Western and the Defence of the Reich fronts. On four occasions he survived being shot down, and he was credited with an astonishing 104 aerial victories, all of them against the Western Allies. He is a legend of air combat, and this is his heroic story. First published in 1954, this is a reprint of the original edition and not any revised version. It was a best-seller in 14 languages and sold three million copies. It was also very well received by the British and American airforces as a frank and honest statement of how the war was won and lost in the air. Time magazine called this book "The clearest picture yet of how the Germans lost their war in the air."


Black Tulip

Black Tulip

Author: Erik Schmidt

Publisher: Casemate

Published: 2020-02-29

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1612008259

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This myth-busting military biography reveals the true story of the legendary WWII German flying ace—and how his story was manipulated during the Cold War. Over the course of 1,404 wartime missions, Luftwaffe fighter pilot Erich Hartmann claimed a staggering 352 airborne kills. His storied career contains all the dramas you would expect: frostbitten fighter sweeps over the Eastern Front, drunken forays to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, a decade of imprisonment in the wretched Soviet POW camps, and further military service during the Cold War. Then, just as Hartmann’s career was faltering, he was adopted by a network of writers and commentators deeply invested in his reputation. These men, mostly Americans, published celebratory stories about Hartmann and his elite fraternity of Luftwaffe pilots. With each dogfight tale put into print, Hartmann’s legacy became loftier and more secure, and his complicated service in support of Nazism faded away. Black Tulip digs beneath this one-dimensional account of Hartmann’s life, revealing a man who was neither a full-blown Nazi nor an impeccable knight.


Soviet Hurricane Aces of World War 2

Soviet Hurricane Aces of World War 2

Author: Yuriy Rybin

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-08-20

Total Pages: 155

ISBN-13: 178096885X

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In 1942, about 80 per cent of the fighters serving with Air Forces of the Karelian and Northern Fronts were Hurricanes. This book explores the bitter struggle against well-drilled Luftwaffe and Finnish units flying in the polar regions of northern Russia. Following the destruction wrought on the Red Army Air Forces during the first days of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, the Soviet Union found itself desperately short of fighter aircraft. Premier Josef Stalin duly appealed directly to Prime Minister Winston Churchill for replacement aircraft, and in late 1941 the British delivered the first of 3360 Hurricanes that would be supplied to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease agreement. Specifically requested by the USSR, the Hurricanes were quickly thrown into action in early 1942 – the Soviet Air Forces' most difficult year in their opposition to the Luftwaffe. Virtually all the Hurricanes were issued to Soviet fighter regiments in the northern sector of the front, where pilots were initially trained to fly the aircraft by RAF personnel that had accompanied the early Hawker fighters to the USSR. The Hurricane proved to be an easy aircraft to master, even for the poorly trained young Soviet pilots, allowing the Red Army to form a large number of new fighter regiments quickly in the polar area. In spite of a relatively poor top speed, and only a modest rate-of-climb, the Hurricane was the mount of at least 17 Soviet aces.


Tigers in the Mud

Tigers in the Mud

Author: Otto Carius

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2020-01-17

Total Pages: 407

ISBN-13: 0811769089

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WWII began with a metallic roar as the German Blitzkrieg raced across Europe, spearheaded by the most dreaded weapon of the 20th century: the Panzer. No German tank better represents that thundering power than the infamous Tiger, and Otto Carius was one of the most successful commanders to ever take a Tiger into battle, destroying well over 150 enemy tanks during his incredible career.